Goniopora issue, opinions/experience please.

[Steadysteady]

Hi, I have a goniopora for about 8 months now and its doing really well, just wondering if the following two pictures should be anything to worry about. Particularily has anyone else seen this before? No scare mongering please. As a side note anyone willing to say what sp it is, I'm thinking stokesi??

 

[Steadysteady]

Nobody. Just some more info it looks like on of the polyps is gone from one of the sockets. Will this damage rest of coral or can it be isolated to that one polyp. Would an iodine bath with lugol's be a good idea. Any help please. Love this coral

 

[John Kelly]

Did the area where the polyp(s) is missing appear recently, or has it been there for awhile?

They will bend their polyps over and place their mouths and tentacles over a wounded area to help protect it. Grabbing the coral like a baseball can cause the tissue to die off where the fingers were pressed too hard.

Keep an eye out for brown jelly infection. If no more tissue appears to be dying off, leave it, don't touch it. If the tissue is dying off rapidly and you see fresh white skeleton appearing, then dip it.

Looks more like goniopora pendulus, which is very similar to stokesi, but a little easier to care for and a tad more hardy.

Feed it.

 

[LeLutinBanni]

Hi,

i have to gonio and they are fine...In your case, just wait. If you see a tissue recession...Dip it with a SMALL dose of lugol and Revive.

 

[Steadysteady]

Did the area where the polyp(s) is missing appear recently, or has it been there for awhile?

They will bend their polyps over and place their mouths and tentacles over a wounded area to help protect it. Grabbing the coral like a baseball can cause the tissue to die off where the fingers were pressed too hard.

Keep an eye out for brown jelly infection. If no more tissue appears to be dying off, leave it, don't touch it. If the tissue is dying off rapidly and you see fresh white skeleton appearing, then dip it.

Looks more like goniopora pendulus, which is very similar to stokesi, but a little easier to care for and a tad more hardy.

Feed it.

John Thanks a million for reply. It has happened recently, I don't think I caused the damage but it is possible. The rest of the coral is doing really well. I was target feeding cyclopeeze,rotifers,oyster eggs. Find it very hard to tell if it actually eats them but the polyps do retract slowly after tentacleclose so presume it's eating. It's not closing from target feeding with two much pressure. I thought the sp was Stokesi because tentacles are a bit shorter. Is the damage likely to stay isolated the the one socket on basal plate or is it likely to spread. No sign of brown jelly yet and have the lugol ready. John will you please keep an eye on this thread to give a dig out. Bought coral not being told of difficulty. Never make that mistake again. Ps love your interview with talking reef on goniopora, listen to it every now and then to make sure I'm still on right track.

 

[John Kelly]

At night after the lights go off, if the coral doesn't close up on it's own, take your hand or a net or something and gently wave it around the polyps until they close. Use a flashlight to look at the spot. See if the wound is fresh (white exposed skeleton) or older looking (darker, sort of greenish). If it is fresh, and you see brown jelly on it (or floating off of it), then dip it. Also, if it is fresh, but you do not see any brown jelly, take note of the size of the spot and check it the next night. If the spot gets a little larger, but there still is no sign of brown jelly, then look for amphipods chewing on the tissue around the exposed corallites.

If the damaged spot is older looking, and there is no sign of freshly exposed skeleton, then just leave it and the coral should eventually grow over the area. Target feeding will definitely help growth.

 

[Steadysteady]

At night after the lights go off, if the coral doesn't close up on it's own, take your hand or a net or something and gently wave it around the polyps until they close. Use a flashlight to look at the spot. See if the wound is fresh (white exposed skeleton) or older looking (darker, sort of greenish). If it is fresh, and you see brown jelly on it (or floating off of it), then dip it. Also, if it is fresh, but you do not see any brown jelly, take note of the size of the spot and check it the next night. If the spot gets a little larger, but there still is no sign of brown jelly, then look for amphipods chewing on the tissue around the exposed corallites.

If the damaged spot is older looking, and there is no sign of freshly exposed skeleton, then just leave it and the coral should eventually grow over the area. Target feeding will definitely help growth.

Hi again, yeah did that last night and no sign of any brown jelly(fingers crossed) and it does look fairly new. Been like it for few days. Looks like just one corallite vacated with a tiny bit of fresh flesh coming off. I'll keep an eye on it, have a good look for amphipod a.d. Hopefully it'll be ok and flesh will cover over it. Thanks

 

[John Kelly]

If it begins to regrow over the corallite, there might be some light-brown/greyish stuff that builds up in the corallite space. It is thicker and more dense than brown jelly, but sort of the same color. Just leave it. Don't try to blow or pick it out. As the wound heals, the stuff will get pushed out.

 

[Steadysteady]

Ok hopefully it will recover as other that that one bit of damage coral doing really well. I'll keep close eye on it and lugols it only if necessary and have good look for amphipods, but havent noticed any at it before. I'll keep ya updated. Thanks

 

[John Kelly]

You're welcome!

 

[shred5]

John what ever happened to your website. Some good info there, it would be nice if it was up somewhere.

 

[Steadysteady]

John what ever happened to your website. Some good info there, it would be nice if it was up somewhere.

+1. Best resource for goniopora information IMO

 

[John Kelly]

My website was hosted with Powweb and the hosting was absolutely terrible. Over time, it got really frustrating to use and I didn't know how to change everything over to another host. DT's sponsored the site for a couple of years, but I eventually let the hosting expire. I had hoped to move the site to another host and write a Goniopora handbook, but ended up getting involved in other things...

Someday I would like to put the site back up. I have everything from it saved (I think); although, much of it can still be accessed through the Wayback Machine internet archive. Click on my user name, then visit my homepage link.

 

[Steadysteady]

Here is an update picture, not looking great, cant see any brown jelly or anything eating it amphipods etc. It seems four/five sockets now empty and tentacles around it covering it but also those tentacles going dark in colour. Anything I can do/try, rest of coral looks great, just this patch, but looks like patch getting bigger.:sad2:

 

[John Kelly]

Give it an iodine dip.
Also, try to get a pic of it completely retracted. It looks like the empty corallites around the lower perimeter are pretty fresh. If there was tissue in those spots a few days ago, then it is either a brown jelly infection or something is eating on it. It acts like it has brown jelly.

Even with brown jelly, a goni will sometimes still try to bend it's polyps over or put it's mouths on the damaged/infected spot, but it doesn't really help. It may slow the spread of the infection, maybe. What ends up happening is that those polyps which are bending over will also start to get infected, and then they will begin to retract.
The tentacles that are going dark are retracting more and more (becoming infected). The zooxanthellae in the retracted tissue makes the polyps appear dark. The more retracted the polyps are, the darker they will appear.

 

[John Kelly]

Give it an iodine dip.
........
The **tentacles** that are going dark are retracting more and more (becoming infected)....

I meant "polyps" instead of tentacles.

 

[shred5]

I agree with John and give it a Iodine/tank watre dip (lugols). I forget the percentage of iodine/tank water right now. Brown jelly can spread really fast and in some cases cover the whole colony in a couple of days or less.

Also the loss of polyps around the bottom is usually a slow process and to me indicates the nutritional requirements are not being met. This is usually indicated by an even band all the way around the coral. I have seen this before and it seems after while gonioporas that have this slow receding around the bottom eventually get the bacteria infection (brown jelly) you are seeing. This could be because the coral is weak. Just a theory though.

Also could be because something is irritating the coral around the bottom but is indicated by bare spots around the bottom and not even all the way around. Algae, corals or something eating the coral at the bottom can cause this.

The rest of the colony does look healthy right now maybe slightly light in color but that could be the pic because you can see zooxanthellae in the coral. Do you feed the coral at all?

 

[Steadysteady]

I agree with John and give it a Iodine/tank watre dip (lugols). I forget the percentage of iodine/tank water right now. Brown jelly can spread really fast and in some cases cover the whole colony in a couple of days or less.

Also the loss of polyps around the bottom is usually a slow process and to me indicates the nutritional requirements are not being met. This is usually indicated by an even band all the way around the coral. I have seen this before and it seems after while gonioporas that have this slow receding around the bottom eventually get the bacteria infection (brown jelly) you are seeing. This could be because the coral is weak. Just a theory though.

Also could be because something is irritating the coral around the bottom but is indicated by bare spots around the bottom and not even all the way around. Algae, corals or something eating the coral at the bottom can cause this.

The rest of the colony does look healthy right now maybe slightly light in color but that could be the pic because you can see zooxanthellae in the coral. Do you feed the coral at all?

Yes I target feed, a mix of cyclopeeze,oyster eggs,rotifers and give the tank phytoplankton twice a week. Problem is I can't feed too heavily as system is not very mature. I was sold the goniopora unaware of it's difficulties. I had picked out and researched 3 corals(as shop was doing a 3 for price of 2 deal). They only had two of the corals I had researched and shop told me I'd be fine with it. Last time I bought livestock there. I will dip with iodine, any idea of ratio?, and feed more heavily, I'd hate to lose it as it's a stunner. Thanks for help, and yes your right there does look to be a ring of fresh corallites exposed. I had,not really noticed this till new picture as it's nearly always open, at least partially at night.

 

[shred5]

Yes I target feed, a mix of cyclopeeze,oyster eggs,rotifers and give the tank phytoplankton twice a week. Problem is I can't feed too heavily as system is not very mature. I was sold the goniopora unaware of it's difficulties. I had picked out and researched 3 corals(as shop was doing a 3 for price of 2 deal). They only had two of the corals I had researched and shop told me I'd be fine with it. Last time I bought livestock there. I will dip with iodine, any idea of ratio?, and feed more heavily, I'd hate to lose it as it's a stunner. Thanks for help, and yes your right there does look to be a ring of fresh corallites exposed. I had,not really noticed this till new picture as it's nearly always open, at least partially at night.

Ok good you are feeding the right things, pretty much what I feed. I now use Rods coral food to make things easier since it has all those things in plus others. This coral to me is savable yet.. The dip should do the trick on the bacteria infection. It actually looks ok with the polyps being extended and in good shape. Keep feeding in at least every three days for now and up it later. I would target feed since your system is new. Turn off all the pumps and let the food drop down to the coral.

Honestly I have not dipped one in years and cant off the top of my head remember the ratio.. It might be on Johns website in the archives, or a search for iodine lugols dip.. It affects allot of lps corals and I would beleive it to be the same for all corals. It actually might say on the lugols bottle. I can look when I get home. Some of the new coral dips do work also But I have never tried any.

 

[Steadysteady]

Latest update like scar tissue

Latest update like scar tissue

Here is the latest picture. It's kinda like the coral is getting a scar tissue over the affected area?? Any advice, good, bad that it has done this. Will this spread or stop what was happening from spreading now that its scarring.

Thanks again